Legend Reborn
by drumjedi76
Summary: Rose de Noir is unruly, rebellious, and well - a lot like her mother, Lili. The winds of change blow as the universe attempts to restore balance. Among the welling storms, her mother's secrets also stir. With the help of some old friends, Rose must recover the Indrik and vanquish not only Darkness, but his master, Mother Night. This is only a first draft.
1. Growing shadows

Jets of steam pulsed out of the mare's flaring nostrils as she galloped hard across the open plain. Her red head and matching mane bobbed in time to her master's advance on their fleeing foe. The Overlord's once shimmering black armor bounced and clanked under a muddled coat of dried blood and slime. Such was the price of victory. The odor of torn sod under hoof clouded his visor and engulfed his helm. His long fur cape rippled in their wake of imminent destruction in the name of Darkness.

A clan of unicorns fled from their charge several lengths ahead. Their intermingling cries told the Overlord that he was close.

 _For thirty long years, I have waited. Waited and watched as these detestable creatures lived in peace. Oh, but our time of waiting nears its end, lordship! Your triumphant return is nearly in hand. As your faithful servant, I have collected all of the rarities needed for your rebirth. All, that is, but one. The Indrik, the Crystal of all Creation, lies in wait atop yon hill._

A small group of animals burst out of the woods to the Overlord's left flank. Wild horses, wolves, foxes, hawks, and migratory fowl converged on his line toward the top of the knoll. Dripping snarls. Angry calls. The agent of Mother Night paid them no heed, spurring his mount into a blistering sprint. The small band of woodland defenders closed the gap to within a few paces. A hawk dove in for the mare's muscular neck, but was washed out by a pillar of fire from higher above. The bird shrieked and collapsed to the meadow as the column of flame forced the survivors to turn away from the blood red mare. To the Overlord's left, the wyvern swooped down and glided parallel to him like a missile, black scales shimmering under a blazing sun.

 _Soon, master, your reign will come. The sun shall fall for the last time, and I will see them driven before you into the heart of a growing storm._

With a pulse of its wings, the dragon disappeared back up into the searing rays of the sun. The Overlord slowed his mare as the animals formed a barrier around a lone deciduous tree on the hilltop. Oak, elm. He didn't know, and he couldn't care.

"Impetuous pixies!" He dismounted and drew a large sword from its sheath on his back.

One by one, the creatures dissolved and transformed. Birds became fairies, foxes - dwarves, and wolves and horses - elves.

His bow strung with an arrow, Honeythorn Gump strode to meet their dark invader. "It means to take the Tree of Life, so defend it with your own!"

The arrow flew true, but landed nothing more than a glancing blow to the visor of Gump's enemy. A pair of dwarves charged the dark one, landing blows to its shins with their war hammers. The poor snow-haired fellow on Gump's left took the black knight's blade through his round gullet and fell over in a lifeless heap. The dwarf on his right took a plated boot to the face and flew back toward the tree.

"Screwball!"

Another incendiary attack from the wyvern cut off the others' advances and forced them to scatter back into the depths of the forest, if they were to live to fight another day.

The Overlord hissed as he stepped over the corpse of his victim toward the final prize. To the undiscerning eye, it would seem like nothing more than an ordinary tree, but he was no fool. These heathen fairies love to hide their most prized possessions out in broad daylight right under the noses of bumbling buffoons. Leveling his blade at his hip, the dark warrior plunged it deep into the tree's flesh. Cracking, tearing, smoldering. The trunk melted away from the vile powers of the blade, relinquishing its long-guarded treasure. The Indrik pulsed in a wash of white radiance as his leathery glove closed around it. The Overlord produced a small pouch of black material from under his chest plate and dropped the foul gem inside.

Heaving himself back atop his mare, the Overlord secured his prize under his chest plate once more. "Your days are numbered!"

His mare reared on her haunches and let loose a hellish bray.


	2. Chapter 1

A pair of the Baron's horses whinnied in the distance. Rose de Noir snapped her head around in their direction. Her braided ponytail of black hair swung over a narrow and athletic shoulder.

 _The last thing I need right now_.

Her father, on most counts, wasn't the overbearing sort. In fact, the Baron de Noir had little to do with his only daughter except for her recent Young Lady's Ball. It had been a custom enacted by Rose's grandfather on her mom, Lili's, side of the family King Godwin. She had crossed the threshold out of childhood – at least as far as her royal family was concerned. When it came to this forest not far from Grandpa Godwin's castle, Rose's dad transformed into someone else. All of the sudden, the good Baron wanted to know everything that she or her mom did anywhere near this place. Rose had secretly followed Lili out here for months and watched as she conversed with herself, nearby animals, Rose couldn't clearly tell.

She crept down the embankment under the boughs of a willow and slid out of sight. "Today, we find out what's inside that little cottage in this wood."

One lean leg over the other, Rose tip-toed along the babbling creek's bank deeper into the shaded glade. Beams of sunlight forced their way through the dense canopy and illuminated scattered patches of toadstool rings and ferns.

A pair of chipmunks scurried across her trail and under leaf as she made her way closer.

In a nearby clearing, a lean young boy cleaved firewood beside a lone bungalow with his axe. One after another, his small logs fell in split pieces at his side. Tiny splinters of his tool's aftermath matted to his damp bare chest and flattened abdomen. Rose hunkered down among some blackberry bushes and growth, poking an eye between thorns to get another look. The teen raised his axe high again over his red mop of hair and brought it down on another specimen of elm. The fluidity in his form and the way his physique rippled intrigued her.

A light snap started the boy from his chore. "Who goes?"

Rose glared down at her right boot. _Foolish move_. When her gaze returned to the boy, she found him in route to her position.

"I know you're there," he said, shouldering his axe. "You might as well show yourself."

 _Just stay down. Maybe he didn't –_

"Look, little girl, I haven't got all day." He set the head of the axe on the ground and leaned on its handle.

"Little girl?" She popped up out of the patch wearing an indignant expression. "How dare you? Have you any idea who I am?"

His chuckles told Rose that he didn't know and didn't care.

"I'll have you know," she said, tugging on the bottom of her red jacket, "that I'm the daughter of the House de Noir." She dusted the stray leaves from her black leggings and matching boots.

"Oh, ho, ho!"

Rose stumbled out from her hiding place to meet her accuser. "I am granddaughter to King Godwin, you know."

The young man hoisted his axe over a shoulder and turned back toward his chore near the cottage.

"Doesn't that mean a thing to you?"

"Nope." He took the split pieces from the ground and set them in his neat stack against the small home. "What in all of creation are you doing this far out from your conveniences?"

His insubordination left her tongue in knots. _Of all the nerve!_

"I didn't stutter," he said, placing a fresh log onto his splitting stump.

"I – my mother." Rose strode in beside the boy as his weapon cleaved another pair. "She comes here often. Why?"

He shrugged his wide shoulders. "Not certain why, honestly. She asks to speak to my nana most of the time."

"Then, I wish to speak with her as well."

The boy's axe came down again, sending a wooden missile flying by her freckled cheek. "Watch yourself, m' lady."

"Who are you?" Rose asked.

He set his wood into the growing stack. "Toby." Placing another log up for cutting, he continued. "I don't think she'll be up for visitors today. Just sits around babbling nonsense on most days."

As Toby heaved his tool over his head, she marched to the edge of his chopping stump. "I want to speak with her. Go and see if she's decent."

He slowed his axe mid-cut, letting it plop into the top of the log. "You're not leaving are you?"

Rose crossed the slender white sleeves of her tunic over her chest.

"Fine. Wait here."

Rustling and shuffling of things from inside the cottage. The ragged voice of an old woman scorned Toby and demanded he put his shirt back on at once in the company of a lady. After a few sour utterances, the young man returned wearing a soiled green tunic.

"This way," Toby said in a defeated tone. "She's been expecting you."

Even at her small stature, Rose had to duck a little to get inside the home's crooked doorframe. Its interior space was warm and inviting. A short narrow table sat at the center of the main room down one step from the flooring on which she stood. The gentle creak of a rocking chair to Rose's left caught her ear.

"Welcome, Lady de Noir," came a voice from somewhere among the rolls and wrinkles. "Please, forgive the clutter. I can't do as much cleaning these days as I used to do."

With each pace closer, the old woman's face emerged from its hiding spot. Bulbous red nose, sagging jowls, and two shimmering blue eyes hidden behind folds of weathered skin.

"I am Nell," the woman said, rocking back in her wooden chair. "Help yourself to a treat on the table."

Rose swept past the jars of cookies and settled in across from Nell's undulating mass. "Toby, your son," she stammered. "He said that you've been expecting me?"

Nell's round head bobbed as she laughed. "I've known your mother for quite some time. Like a daughter to me, she is."

Rose leaned against a cabinet full of trinkets. "That explains why mom comes out here so often."

"Aye," Nell said, sighing. "Lili's been vistin' me since she was 'round about your age." Her bushy white brows wiggled. "Always in search of somethin'."

Rose came around to the front of the cabinet. "Searching for what?" She heard Toby grumble and clomp back out into the fresh air.

Nell heaved her heavy form up in the chair and hunched forward over an old knit blanket. "Many things, dear. Life, love, magic."

Rose's chest deflated as she examined the rows of unusual oddities in Nell's cabinet. "She says those things died a long time ago."

The aged woman's blue stare fell to the depths of the forest outside her tiny round window. "Some have, to be sure."

Rose blue eyes peered beyond the shimmering bells and medallions on the shelves and into her reflection. "Why does she come to see you, Nell?" The light swath of freckles draped across her button nose twitched.

"Love and loss, m' lady." She drew her blanket up closer to her sagging cheeks. "Folks she once knew," her head bobbed to accent her point, "and once believed in."

"You're not making much sense," Rose said.

Nell narrowed her gaze. "They're still out there – watching us. Waiting for the right time."

The sound of a horse's neigh out the window snapped the girl out of her defeated daydream.

"Expecting someone, dear?"

Rose felt the blood rush from her face. "My father." She scurried toward the door, knocking over a few wicker baskets along the way. "I can't stay any longer."

Nell rocked in her chair and smiled. "Always watching." She hummed the melody to a familiar lullaby. "Always waiting, m' lady."


	3. Chapter 2

Running. Racing. Rose's heart leaped with every sprint between trunks in this enchanted thicket. Cool beads of sweat coated her palms. Her father's horsemen loped along the road not far behind.

"If he catches me out here -"

She didn't have to complete that horrible thought. The memory of verbal lashing she had overheard the last time served as warning enough. The shouting. If he had told her mom once, he'd told her a thousand times to stay clear of that batty old hag. She had nothing to offer but delusional tales and trouble. Her mom had attempted to defend her actions and received another round of his affections for her disobedience.

No, should couldn't get caught. She wouldn't. She ducked her nimble frame under a fallen tree and slid down an embankment into a widening valley. The tall ferns and saplings here would give her sufficient cover to make it back to the bridge. From there, she would be in the open on the only road in or out of here father's estate.

 _If I don't beat them to it, I'll be in a real predicament_.

She shuffled among the underbrush and leaped over the narrow ribbon of silver that flowed down from the rocky face nearest the main road. At the moment, she had the upper hand, but that could change in an instant. The nimble teen followed the flow deeper into the valley and away from the horses.

"Whuh?" she said, falling back against the hillside. Another presence snaked between leaf and log several feet above her.

Rose took cautious motions to roll onto her side for a better look. Bushy red fur and a white tipped tail drifted up the embankment among the ferns. One of her father's horsemen ordered his ride into a trot in her direction.

"Message received," she whispered. "Lead the way."

Using her right hand to steady her, Rose trailed up the steep climb behind the small fox. The creature would stop every once in a while and glance back at her with its beady little eyes.

"I'm coming." Her boot slipped on the exposed root of a pine, sending Rose face down into the soil. "They're getting closer."

Her furry friend turned its head in the direction of the impeding canters atop the gravel road. Faint murmurs grew more distinguished.

"I thought I saw something in the underbrush over this way," one guard noted. "Might have been a fox or rabbit."

His older counterpart sauntered up alongside him on his chestnut steed. "Or his unruly imp that we once again have the pleasure of chasing all over the countryside."

She followed her new friend along the hillside's contours and away from her father's henchmen. Ahead between a pair of leaning sycamores, lay the covered stone bridge.

"Why we have to do this is beyond me," the younger guard complained. "She's a young lady for heaven's sake."

The seasoned horseman rode up beside him. "It's not as much about her age as it is about her station." His keen green eyes surveyed the area ahead. "We swore to protect them all with our lives."

"I suppose," the youthful one said, swatting a few stray flies from his tanned face. "What now, then?"

"We wait, Thomas."

"For what?" The boy grew impatient. His horse stank. He stank. Not to mention, he had had to go since they doubled back in the forest.

Percival sat stoic in his saddle. "She'll have to cross that bridge eventually. No way around it."

The fox looked up to the road and back over its shoulder to Rose. After a moment's rest, it trotted off around the bend toward the bridge.

"You heard them, didn't you?" she whispered as she tiptoed after. "Whose side are you on anyway?"

The animal ignored her and plodded along the trail until it came to the large creek and the covered bridge.

"A fine mess you've gotten us into." Rose crossed her arms and huffed.

Several yards back on the road over her head, the horses snorted in contempt.

She glared down at the creature as it sat licking a paw. "Well? Now what?" Rose strode to the edge of the gargling water and extended an open palm. "You can't expect me to swim across this."

The fox padded over behind her and into a narrow crevice in the rock face. When her friend didn't return after several minutes, Rose got on all fours and followed suit.

"I suppose I have little choice left."

The cold stones pressed against her on both sides, making the passage puzzling at best in the pitch darkness. A few scrapes and bruises later, Rose emerged on the other side of the road, but still on the same side of the creek.

The perturbed teen glanced around. "I don't see what that gained us."

The fox darted off among some large bushes and disappeared.

"Hang on." Rose glanced over her shoulder toward the road. The guards still sat on their rides in silent patience. She turned back to the bushes and crept in between their pungent white blossoms.

Much to her surprise, the creek narrowed in this location. The cover of the tall willows and the underbrush made it perfect for concealment. She followed her companion across a fallen log over the narrow ribbon of bubbling water and jumped down onto the tufts of grass on the opposite side. The small animal sat on its haunches and stared at her.

"Yes," she said, brushing off her leggings. "I suppose I owe you an apology."

It whimpered and bobbed its head.

Rose looked up the embankment toward the palace. "I guess I should be getting back. Thanks again for your help."

As she slinked over the hill, her friend galloped off back in the direction of the deep wood. Once in the western meadows of the de Noir estate, Rose knew that she was well clear of the main road and her father's pests. She broke off into a sprint toward the back entrance, leaping over brier and wildflowers. One leg over the picket fence followed by the other, and then a light jog to the servant's entrance into the kitchen.

"And when you've finished, could you please bake a pie? You know how he loves them."

Oh, no. Rose knew that voice, but what was her mom doing back here this time of day?

"Rose!"

Too late.

Lili glanced around the grounds to make sure no one else was nearby. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Mom, I-"

Lili took a handful of Rose's sleeve and pulled her aside. "Your father had to send guards out looking for you again, Rose."

She lowered her defeated gaze to the stone walkway.

Her mother swept a silver bang behind her ear. "I can only protect you for so long."

"I know, momma."

Lili led her only daughter around to the front of the home. "Where did you wander off to?"

Rose watched as the daylight played on her mother's braids. Her weaves of light brown hair became gold in the blazing sun. "Out."

Lili spun on a heel to face her before the palace's grand entrance. "The forest? Again?"

Rose's eyes fell to the large stone stairs.

"You know how your father gets about you wandering off, let alone into that strange place."

Rose followed her mother's eyes across the front lawn toward the property's main gate. Three men on horseback galloped along the road into their estate.

"Your father." Lili's tone fell flat and cold.

Rose watched as the color drained from her mom's face. There would be hell to pay for her insolence, and her mom held the purse.


	4. Chapter 3

Clouds of darkness boiled and churned high above the girth of the Great Tree. A trio of serpents floated on the impending storm winds as another fork of light raked the skies. The Overlord's red mare bolted across the stone bridge spanning the stagnant bog and through its rusty gates. A pair of downtrodden priests were all that stirred in the main plaza of the once proud place.

His mare skidded to a halt in the deteriorating plaza. Remnants of once proud onyx pillars lay scattered across obtuse jutting slabs of granite. Amputated statues – their features cracked and blasted by foul goodness – stood in varying states of dysfunction around the square. The Overlord's boots clanged on the mossy stones as he dismounted. The priests scurried to one side as he stormed into a narrow dark corridor.

"He's returned," one muttered behind a black sleeve.

His partner's eyes widened in the glow of the Overlord's latest prize. "The Indrik!"

The lone shard of hope cut through the desolation and decay surrounding Mother Night's emissary. He advanced through the rear entrance into the kitchen, kicking empty pots from his path, and strode into the main foyer of his master's throne room.

Cracked pillars. Massive fractures spidered along the polished marble floor toward the two main doors. The Overlord released the frustration from his chest and stepped on one of the doors that had been blown off its ancient hinges in the throes of their epic battle. Cobwebs clung to the bone fangs on his visor as he walked into the shadowy space. The Indrik's brilliance illuminated a long table coated in dust and wooden shrapnel. The fireplace on the opposite wall sat barren and dark in its corner of the temple. The Overlord made is way over to a smaller table that rested next to a huge cauldron. He placed his newest treasure on the table beside the others. Having seized a small leather pouch, the Overlord made his way back to the fireplace. With the utterance of a few phrases, he scattered a handful of the dust into the open pit. His conjuration was rewarded with a blast of blue light and matching healthy flames.

A faint voice slithered from behind the dancing light. "I see you have returned."

The Overlord knelt before the fire. His long fur cape fluttered in the wake of his master's weakened power. "I have, Mother."

"And the crystal?"

His gaze rose to the flames. "It rests on yon table with the other relics."

Mother Night's flames intensified, casting wicked shadows across the stone statues flanking her pit. "Excellent. Summon my priests." A small explosion of orange erupted under the suspended cauldron to their left. "The time has come."

In moments, Mother Night's emissaries gathered around the large iron cauldron near the center of the throne room. A healthy bright fire boiled the viscous dark fluid within. A pair of high priests muttered ancient phrases over the bursting bubbles and rising steam.

The Overlord strode to the pot and dropped a rare root into the foul soup. Its contents glowed a deep red. _It's working!_

The priests' low guttural chants intensified to a roar. The small sea of nightmare creatures swayed and swooned at the arrival of their Lord. Large spheres of the fluid congealed into skeletal shapes. A forearm over here, and a femur over there.

The Overlord's gaze snapped to Mother Night's fire pit. The height of her blue fires spoke volumes for the dark warrior. She, too, was pleased to see the rebirth of her prodigal son. A powerful hand slapped the cauldron's edge, spraying the black ooze onto the aged stone floor. Another fell a few paces from the first. The muscular arms of the creature within the pot hoisted a sleek bald head from the depths of the muck.

The crowd echoed the magical phrases of their priests as the thick torso of their master rose. One massive hooved foot crunched to the floor – then the other. The Overlord knelt before the bare figure.

"Look on me." His master's tone was deep and weakened.

The Overlord's visor rose and he gazed into the yellow serpentine stare of Darkness. "Master?"

Swirling clouds of red and green at Darkness' head materialized into a pair of horns black as pitch. "See the fruits of your loyalty and labor."

The Overlord lowered his head in a slow and noble motion. "I see, Master."


	5. Chapter 4

Rose ran after her mother into the shadows of the thicket. "I shouldn't have told her about the boy."

Lili, the hem of her dress bunched in both hands, maneuvered around thorn and bush in her own dance with nature. The evening sun cast deepening beams of gold into the lowest boughs of the canopy.

Her mother was on a mission. Rose could see it. _Nell, Toby – all of it – should have remained behind my lips._ To a point, all of it wasn't Rose's fault. After all, her mom did prod and poke her little nose where it didn't belong in the first place.

Rose ducked behind a large boulder, narrowly avoiding her mother's watchful eyes. "If she hadn't been so damned persistent."

The youth crept to the stone's far edge and glanced around its girth. Lili's braided brown mane bobbed once over the crest in the path before disappearing below and toward the gurgling brook. Rose followed the animal trails farther into the wood until the twinkling of a lantern caught her eye from a distant windowsill. The boy, Toby, nodded at her mother's insistence and extended a wiry arm into the little cottage.

Rose ducked under several low-lying limbs undulating in the gentle breeze of the forest and took careful steps toward the flickering flame. Back over her shoulder, the ginger disc of the Sun sank deeper below the rolling hills. Passing cirrus clouds smoldered in delicate hues of violet and rose. The mumbles from within the abode grew into more distinct conversation as she came within a stone's throw of the simple lantern.

"What have you told her Nell?" Her mother demanded.

"Nothin' that she should've heard already from you, dear," Nell's warm voice said.

The teen crept along the wall of Nell's home. Cool stones of varying shapes and sizes passed under her fingers along with narrow bands of earth and clay.

"Do you know what she told me, Nell?" Her mom's voice teetered on the brink of mania. "Do you know what she said not two nights ago?"

The wind and the whistling willow leaves consumed the stillness.

"She seems to have these delusions of grandeur that there are others in these woods than you and the animals."

An old chair groaned as it rocked on the home's floor. "I tells her only what's true, m' lady. You once knew as well as any other in the realm."

Something slammed onto a table. "That was another time – long ago, Nell!"

The chair creaked back and forth in a hypnotic dance.

"When he died, my innocence…" A sniffle.

"A brave lad, he was, love," Nell said, "and if anything, you should honor that sacrifice by keeping their story alive."

Footsteps shuffled across the cottage's floor. "I can't."

"Can't, or won't?"

Rose lifted her eyes over the lower sill next to the lantern's soft glow.

Lili studied the assortment of trinkets in Nell's cupboard. "Can't." The warmth of her brown eyes fell onto those of Toby. Rose had seen that same look only when her mom looked on her. "It's – it's complicated."


	6. Chapter 5

Rose raced through the forest after her mother. The sun had nearly sunk below the distant hills. Something else moved among the underbrush alongside her. Here and there, a white-tipped red tail of fur poked out from behind the ferns and thorns.

"You again?" The uphill stint labored her breaths.

The fox glanced at her for a brief moment and then bolted ahead for Lili.

"Hey! Wait!"

Lili broke free of the forest and ran across the rolling meadow. Rose followed suit in time to see the fox intercept her mom's course and stop Lili cold. The two stood there eyeing one another among the sea of twinkling fireflies for the longest time.

Rose moved around to the left side of the pair at a safe distance and ducked behind a cluster of oaks. Her mother muttered something, emphasizing it with a jab of her right hand.

Rose's eyes widened. "What?"

The fox fazed in and out of the dying daylight. A figure no larger than a ten-year-old boy replaced its petite form. He wore little else beyond a fur loincloth and a bow and quiver on his back.

"What are you saying?" Rose lowered her stomach to the dampening grass and inched closer to the private meeting.

The boy gestured toward the starry sky. His pointed ears shook back and forth.

"Whatever it is," Rose whispered into the green blades, "it seems urgent."

Hand over hand she crept closer to the pair. The moist blades dampened her blouse in several places.

"… have appeared as foreseen!" the pointy-eared fellow exclaimed. "Darkness is once again upon us, child."

Lili gave an indignant huff. "I have children of my own now. I'm hardly a child any longer, Gump."

The majestic being bowed low. "A thousand pardons, m' lady." He righted himself and gazed deep into her spirit. "I meant no harm."

"If what you speak is true," she said, "then we need to stop it."

The one called Gump lowered his brown eyes to the grass. "That, we do, lass, but who?"

His smiling eyes found Lili's again. "Oh, no, Gump!" Rose's mom scurried around to one side. "I couldn't go through that again. Not after -" Her voice trembled and broke.

Gump set his youthful hands on either of her arms. "You're all that's left. He means to end all creation."


	7. Chapter 6

His master gave him simple instructions: find the human Lili, and destroy all else.

The Overlord pushed his mare hard across the trail and deeper into the wood. Somewhere high above, his pet drifted, awaiting the order to dive and destroy. Thunder clashed. Lightening raked the deepening night. The once green and vibrant leaves on the deciduous trees molted and shriveled in the wake of the agent of Darkness.

This mortal woman had delivered a great deal of pain and suffering for his master. _Feeble and futile emotions of the fleeting heart. Bah! Never again._

A faint row of torches came in to view as the Overlord rounded a rise in the trail. The sudden halt caused his horse to whinny and rear up on her hind legs. Distant armor glinted as it passed each flickering torch.

"A storm's brewing!" one of the men shouted. "Pass the word to batten down for the night."

Another of his cohorts nodded and shuffled off the wall. More forks of light pierced the otherwise serene evening.

The Overlord laughed. _Like taking candy from a child._ His helm tilted toward his spell's work above. The hellish worm sailed from one bulky cloud to another.

"Dive, dive!"

He watched as his black wyvern tucked her wings to her sides and plummeted like a missile of darkness toward the unsuspecting town. A brief shimmer of moonlight upon her scales and she vanished behind a low-lying cumulus cloud.

One pillar of flame, and then another. The Overlord chuckled at the wails and shouts from the watchmen. The cacophony that ensued played like a warm symphony in his ears.

"Water!" one man exclaimed. "We need water, now."

"The women and children," came another voice from among the clangs and thuds. "Get them to the sanctuary."

With a stout tug on the reigns, his mare veered right and stormed off toward the destruction. Bolts of light overhead flickered for brief moments in passing puddles along the road into the village. _A new season of death has come. Night will fall and with it your putrid existences as you know them._

Women wept, huddling their little ones under their protective wings as he thundered past. Searing heat engulfed several homes on his left while warriors and farmers tried to vanquish the flames. The agent of Darkness felt at home in the chaos and misery. A swipe of his onyx broadsword made short work of a lone guard defending the main road into the de Noir estate.

A blast of wind made the Overlord look up from the young man sliding down his bloodied blade. The wyvern had completed her assignment and drifted in great loops awaiting further instruction.

He lifted his blade in the direction of the sprawling estate nestled on the knoll ahead. "There! She cannot escape."

The Overlord kicked the haunches of his hellish horse and galloped hard across the meadow on a line toward the front doors.

The human woman, Lili, burst out of the front doors and crumpled at the sight of her friends and neighbors in ruin. "No!"

The winds howled over the rolling grass, uprooting a tall elm to the woman's left. The Overlord raised his left hand, and the fallen tree obeyed. She shrieked and ducked inside as the gargantuan tree collided with the stone wall of her estate. His black dragon released a torrent of fire that burned a circle around the rear of the estate. The hooves of his mare made short work of the wooden doors. A shower of splinters exploded inward heralding the coming of a new ruler.

"His majesty would like an audience with you." He scanned the main foyer and room beyond. "There's no escape."

Furniture tumbled several rooms away to his left. He guided his powerful animal in a slow gait toward the cowering human. _A shame, really. For all of their intellect, the human race became blubbering fools under duress._

The Overlord made quick work of the small buffet and door into the main dining hall. She stood beside the fireplace, short sword in hand.

"I won't go without a fight."

The Overlord hopped down off his mare and strode toward her. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Her teeth clenched as Lili brought the light weapon around in a broad arch. The Overlord swatted the weak strike away with a gloved palm and swung his blade. Chunks of brick and stone jumped off the wall and heart, pelting his black armor.

Lili ran for into the adjoining room. A fiery tree toppled to the ground outside the tall window as he mounted his mare once more.

"So, this is how I find the last great hope for creation?" the Overlord said as he entered the sitting room. His words slithered off his foul tongue. "Cowering in fear and running for the back door?"

The human braced herself against the rear exit to the estate. Survival had overridden her gallantry and forced the feeble sword to the floor. The Overlord saw his opportunity and seized it. His mare charged across the space in a blinding flash. Lili barreled backward out the door and tumbled to the dampening grass.

"Run, child. Run!" He led his mare out onto the back lawn and watched as his winged nightmare swept down upon the fleeing woman.

She may have gotten ten paces at best before the massive claw closed around her and lifted her into the towering thunderheads.


	8. Chapter 7

Lightening-laced clouds blotted out the stars. Fierce winds and stinging dust chased after Rose as she ran toward the growing inferno.

"Mother!"

Lapping fire crept over the topmost parapets of the walls surrounding her little town. Men and women scurried in a panic back and forth inside carrying water in anything they could find.

"Over here!" she heard one man shout. "Another with severe burns."

The surrounding madness strangled her ability to think and rationalize. Crying children, orphaned. Mothers and daughters tossing what belongings they could salvage from their ransacked homes. Men charged headlong into the blazes, their tunics and trousers smoldering. Rose's mind raced; her heart beat out of her chest. _What could have caused such widespread destruction?_ She ran down the main cobblestone road, flew past the smithy in a blur, and skidded to a stop before her worst nightmare.

Flames lapped. Clouds of acidic smoke billowed from under every crease in the manor's roof line. Her eyes hurried to collect every possible clue. The front doors had been battered inward, crushed under an incredible amount of force. Everything within was ablaze.

"Mother?"

She ran closer and darted off around the eastern side of her home's remains. No sign of Lili. No real sign of anyone.

"Mother?" She crept closer to a tall window on the ground floor. "Father? Are you-?"

An explosion. Dozens of tiny glass shards stung her body. A gloved hand took her by the elbow and tugged her away from the inferno.

"Come, m' lady," the man said. "It's no use."

Rose turned and discovered one of her father's guards pulling her to safety. The growing orange destruction reflected on his polished helm.

"Where's my mother? What happened?"

Once they had made it a safer distance from the manor, he stopped and turned to face her. "A dragon." Something registered in the man's eyes that shouldn't have been there. Dread. "A black one. Set everything on fire."

"Lili," Rose insisted, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Where's my mom?"

The guard's brown gaze glazed over. "They took her."

"They?"

His head quivered in the affirmative. "A man in black armor. Red mare. Came in on the storms, they did."

Beads of cold sweat formed all over her body. A sea of tiny stars clouded her vision. "Was she still alive?"

His head bobbed once more. "She was in the clutches of that winged monstrosity."

"Which way?"

The guard didn't answer.

"Which way!" she demanded.

His pale face turned toward the forest in the west. Forks of light intensified over the glade's canopy.

"Collect yourself and -" she slapped the man hard across the cheek. "Hey!"

His attentive eyes fell to meet hers.

"Collect yourself," she repeated, "and go help the others." She raced off in the direction of the forest. "I've got to go."

Rose sped back out in the direction of the intensifying storms. She had to get her mother back regardless of whether she had to dismember man or beast. Fierce winds hissed through the thick underbrush as she pushed into the shadowy forest. Bits of dirt and pebbles stung her face and hands. She ducked under low-lying boughs and wove between briar patches down the narrow footpath. Smaller trees bent sideways in the storms growing wrath. Rose leaped over the bubbling brook and sped up her pace in the open flat.

A thunderous crack to her left. Rose shrieked and stuttered back as the top half of a mighty oak crashed to the floor, crushing ferns underneath. She hurried around it and continued toward the faint light in Nell's window ahead.

Rose only caught the instantaneous burst of light out of the corner of her right eye. A wave of tingles engulfed her as the blast flung her to the earth. When she had righted herself, the girl found another narrow trunk next to her in flames. A bolt of lightning had split the timber in two.

"Nell! Toby!"

As she approached the cottage, its petite door burst ajar. Toby waved her inward as the rain commenced.


	9. Chapter 8

Fierce storm winds whipped around the worn rounded corners of Nell's cottage.

Toby leaned into the front door and slammed the locking plank home. "You nearly got mashed flat out there."

Rose brushed a few leaves from her hair and shuffled out of the boy's warpath.

"Some of the worst storms I've seen in all my life," he muttered as he continued securing his home against the elements.

Nell rocked in her chair under a quilt. "Frightenin' storms. A terrible season is upon us."

Rose sensed no urgency in the old woman's tone. "My mom, Nell. Did she come this way?"

Nell shook her jowls in slow and deliberate strokes.

Rose glanced to Toby, her face wrenched in confusion.

"Terrible storm, this is," Nell said.

The girl advanced on Nell. "My mother, Nell. Lili. Where is she?"

The old woman's eyes fell into the glowing embers of her fire. "The Great Tree. Horrid place."

Rose's gray gaze lifted to meet Toby's. The teen shrugged his broad shoulders.

"A temple of dark power." Nell shivered and drew her blanket closer. "Torture, pain, and death rot."

The young girl strode to Nell's rocking chair and set her hands on the armrests, stopping its gentle sway. "Where do I find it?"

Nell's vacant stare remained fixed on the stone wall behind Rose. "The pixies, dear." A lone sniff. "Find the fairies." The life came back into her eyes as she turned her attention to Rose. "Your mum once knew them, too. Seek them out in the wood. They'll know what must be done to make things right."


	10. Chapter 9

The sun had disappeared behind the powerful storms. Their relentless winds howled and wailed among the ancient trees in the glade. Rose led the way, weaving between briar bush and fern.

Toby pushed a low-lying branch out of his path. "Where do we find them?"

"Not sure," she said, shouting over the whistling winds. "I've seen one once."

Toby's short sword hacked into the underbrush at her back. "Well, what did that one look like?"

She laid her right hand on the girth of a tall elm and raised her other to halt the boy's advance. Distant rumbles rolled overhead. Her narrow gaze surveyed the shadow's depths.

"What is it?"

Rose hushed him and turned her attention back on a slight movement in the weeds young lady crept forward down the gentle knoll toward the disturbance.

"What do you see?" Toby whispered.

Another waft of her left hand.

A bright flash illuminated a patch of red fur as it ducked in and out of the weeds.

"There." Rose sped up to a jog in pursuit of the creature across the forest floor.

The nimble animal wove among the exposed root systems and scurried along the bank of a brook farther and farther away from civilization.

Toby's footfalls came closer together at her back. "Where are we going?"

"Don't know." Rose's breaths came in labored spurts. "I have a hunch."

She chased the fox along the babbling stream through toadstool rings and beyond the oaken glade. At last, the small animal came to rest before a rocky hummock protected by moss and fallen trunks.

"Great," Toby said. His chest heaved and sputtered to catch up to his lungs. "It's led us straight into the jaws of a bear."

Rose watched the forest denizen with growing curiosity. "I think it's -"

A bright flash followed by a shower of shimmering lights. Where the fox once sat, now a boy rested on his haunches.

Toby stumbled back. "What in all creation?"

Rose took another cautious step closer. "You."

The boy wore little more than a loincloth. He had a bow slung over his right shoulder and a quiver of bolts over his right.

He rose and offered a generous bow. "Honeythorn Gump, at your service."

"You spoke to my mother last," Rose said. A hue of concern tainted her tone. "What did she tell you?"

Gump glanced in the direction of another distant rumble. His keen blue gaze tracked it across the boiling heavens. "She offered little for conversation on that night, child." His eyes met hers once more. "Warnings were given, but they fell on deaf ears."

"What warnings?" Rose studied his youthful face for any deeper meaning. "The Great Tree?"

Gump's brow peaked. "Indeed." He studied them both as he spoke. "Darkness has returned to the Realm. These unnatural storms are only the beginning, I fear."

The girl's face wrenched in confusion.

"Darkness," Gump said. "Know you nothing of this world, child?"

Rose and Toby shared in a bewildered expression.

"He exists only to manipulate and destroy all of creation." The forest elf's words stung like barbs. "The last time his presence was felt here, he nearly toppled the world. This time, though," his voice trailed off into another grumble from Mother Nature, "things are different."

Toby walked up to the mouth of the cavern and leaned inside.

"You mustn't!" Gump's wise tone morphed into something akin to childlike.

Toby righted his torso. "Why have you led us here?"

"What rests in there is for her eyes to see," the sprite said, "and no one else."

The elf gathered a broken limb from the brush and wrapped a clump of moss over one end. He passed his creation over to Rose.

"What do you expect me to - ?"

With a sharp clap of his hands, the moss sparked to life.

"Take that," Gump said. "Follow the path all the way to its end." He extended a youthful hand into the cavern. "There, you will find what you need."

The girl's brow furrowed.

"Your mother is in the Great Tree." Gump's gray gaze turned into the gaping black hole. "The tools you need to free her await."

Rose ducked under a set of protruding roots that served as the archwork for the opening and poked her torch into the void.

"Go, child," Gump insisted. "Time isn't on our side."

The dancing flames illuminated an ancient network of roots and vines. Once inside, she followed the short and narrow corridor deeper into the hill. Mice and long bugs scurried and burrowed as she crept past over stone and stem. At its end, the path opened up in to a larger chamber. Crystalline calcite coated everything like a mid-autumn frost. The cone of her fire lifted from the twinkling roots to a sarcophagus in the room's heart. The innate lettering engraved in the stone lid's side had long since been filled with dirt and debris, but its words remained intact.

 ** _Here lies Jack o' the Wood. Hero of the Light and Fairy friend._**

A dazzling glint drew her gaze to the right corner of the tomb.

"Remarkable."

Its golden scales shimmered beneath the snapping glow of Rose's torch. She nestled her flame in between two writhing roots and knelt closer to the treasures. The armor tunic felt cold under her hands. At its side lay a matching sword and jewel-encrusted scabbard. Rose took the armor in both hands and lifted it over her head. Once it had slid down her torso, she strung the weapon across her back and made her way back from whence she came.

Toby's eyes widened as she emerged from the cave.

"M' lady," Gump said, falling to one knee.

She crossed her arms and huffed. "What now?"

Gump stood and strode off into the wood. "Now, we must confer with the others and hatch a plan – and a good one at that!"


	11. Chapter 10

Lili paced back and forth behind the magical field that imprisoned her. _Not again. This won't happen again_. A fire burned in the far corner of the hollow space.

A pair of glowing red eyes pierced the black adjacent to the lapping light. "Welcome home, m' lady." Its voice was deep and authoritative.

She approached the pulsing field of dark lavender energy. It hissed as Lili reared a fist beyond her right ear.

"Come now." Darkness sat upon his shimmering throne of polished black stone. "Is that any way for a baroness to carry herself?" His mocking laughter bounced in the emptiness, fracturing the silence.

Her stare dissolved into disdain. "What do you want with me?"

"I knew you'd eventually come home to me."

"By force?"

A lone grunt from the shadows' depths. "Some need to be reminded of their place."

"Release me at once!"

A pair of black horns leaned forward into the fire's brightness. That serpentine glare. A fanged grin that froze Lili to her core.

"I regret to say that is quite impossible."

The butt of Lili's fist struck the ethereal shell with bruising force. The shockwave radiated throughout her being, blasting her back across the cold floor on her rump.

Again, her captor chortled at her expense. "Past experiences have proven you untrustworthy."

"He banished you before, he can -"

"Your forest prince?" Darkness laced his fingers before his narrowing stare. "Has no one told you?"

Lili pounced from the planks and charged the purple shell. "What have you _done_ to him?"

The Lord of Darkness rested a forearm on either side of his elegant throne. "I've done nothing." He eased back into his seat of power. The lapping light caught only the whites of his eyes and the base of a horn. "Your soulmate rots in his tomb, and has for some time, m 'lady."

Warm liquid pain consumed her vision. "Lies!"

"Your love is long since dead." He turned the digits on his right hand out. "Your husband – a waste."

"You liar."

"The Baron?" Darkness curled his talon in to a fist. "His heart and soul belonged to me long before you ever met." One massive hooved foot hits the floor followed by the other. The Lordship's footfalls echoed off the ancient stones as he strode to his latest trophy.

"Greed," he lowered his head closer to the field and peered into her spirit, "is a dangerous drug, baroness."

Lili's thin glare pierced his perpendicular pupils. "If you think for a moment that I'm marrying you -"

Her captor turned and paced back toward his dying fire. His long pitch cape drifted on a phantom breeze. Darkness took one of his many trinkets from the mantle and turned it in the light. "Perhaps, if you choose not to look on me as a lover," he ground the object to dust and cast its sparkling remnants into the flames, "then you'll love me as family instead."


	12. Chapter 11

The rolling hills surrendered to his red mare as the Overlord sped past them. Through his visor, the Marshlands sprawled out in all directions to his south. The foul vapors of decay and rot filled his pulsing nostrils.

 _For every force or power, there must be an equal to keep it in balance. Light and dark. Creation and destruction_.

He shifted his weight in the saddle and his horse responded, veering toward a row of rocky hills to their right.

 _A delicate tightrope upon a razor's edge_.

Along the shallow spine of rocks, a black creature ran at full speed. Its muscular human arms propelled it forward as its catlike hind legs gave it speed and finesse. On a few occasions, it had attempted to traverse the hills, but the dragon's flames corralled it back on a collision course with the Overlord.

His armor-plated boot found the haunches of his red mare again. She brayed and huffed. The veins and tendons in her muscular neck bulged as she charged the lone gap in these lowlands. If he missed the cutoff, the creature would run free, and the object of his quest would take far longer than his master would allow.

The shadowy blur attempted to find another gear, but the burst of acceleration came too late. The creature skidded to a halt several paces in front of the mare, sending up a cloud of loose gravel and dust. The Overlord dismounted and slid his broadsword from its sheath on his back. The monster reared up on its hind legs, bearing its mouth of fangs with a feline hiss.

The agent of Darkness studied the werepanther's moves for a weakness. "Don't make this any more complicated than it needs to be."

Its thick muscular chest pulsed as the monster hissed in defiance. A soiled ivory claw sat at the end of each of the creature's elongated human fingers.

"Very well," the Overlord said. "Have it your way."

He swung his weapon over his helm and brought it down on a course for the werepanther's neck. The cat ducked the attack and raked his gauntlet. Its blue eyes echoed the resolve of the monster's actions.

"Not thisss day!" the creature hissed.

It charged the warrior's position in a flash and seized the Overlord by his throat. His muscles and tendons fought against the onslaught, but they were no match for the panther's vice. Daylight blurred as the hands crushed his airway.

An incinerating blast scorched the ground at their sides as his dragon circled overhead. Using the surprise to his advantage, the Overlord brought the hilt of his sword down on the skull of the werecat. It whimpered and shuffled away, stunned by the blow. The warrior brought his blade around for its head a second time, and on this turn, it found its mark. The tendons in the werepanther's neck gave like ripping pieces of leather. The monster's head bounded along the short grass and came to rest against a half-buried stone. Its terrestrial body crumpled to its knees and rocked forward. The Overlord marched over and steadied the headless corpse with his left hand. His right plunged deep into the furry chest of the monster and came back with a throbbing heart. The Overlord watched with his power-filled and lustful gaze as the heart slowed. A black crystalline substance formed at the center of the organ and spread across its entirety. He dropped the black diamond into a pouch on his saddle and sheathed his weapon. The Overlord studied the swirling storms as he mounted his trail companion once more.

 _The time has come. The harvest is ripe for the plucking_.


	13. Chapter 12

Rose trailed behind Gump as he raced deeper into the heart of the forest. The elf's youthful frame bounded over fallen tree and scurried among the briars and bushes.

"This way!" he exclaimed over a blast from the heavens. "Come, come!"

The girl did her best to keep up with the sprite. "Where are you taking us?"

Howling winds blew up a cloud of dust and earth. The tempest pelted the trio as they followed the thin trail farther and farther away from home.

Gump's words came in short bursts over his left shoulder. "We haven't the time now for small talk." He raced down a steep embankment that emptied out into a wide clearing. "All will be apparent soon enough."

As she galloped down behind Gump, Rose felt the heel of her left boot skid on something slick and wet. Trunks and ferns passed in tumbling blurs as she barreled the remainder of the way toward the base of the gully. Leaves and briars whipped her bare hands and face to shreds. The snapped end of a log flew past her right eye, missing impalement by mere fractions of an inch. Something cold and hard to her right knee, a thick stick to her spine, and Rose tumbled to a stop at the base of an ancient oak.

Toby trotted along sider her and extended a clammy hand into hers. "Are you hurt?"

Rose followed his strength to her feet and shoved his hand away in disgust.

"You fell," he said. "I only wanted to -"

"I need no help from you," she said, brushing off her leggings.

Gump hissed in their direction. "Quiet you two."

He shouldered his bow and crept one foot over the other into the huge ring of trees. The elf lifted his hands to his mouth and mimicked the call of a forest finch. One by one, blue lanterns flickered to life on the trunk of each oak.

"This way," he said, waving his hand.

As the two teens made their way into the ring of trees, a glowing cloud of yellow dots fluttered past and wove a wide circle around the enchanted grove. Rabbit, deer, bear, and swallow all found their way into the grove and congregated near its heart. Rose and Toby shared a glance of astonishment as they both watched the cloud of glowing fireflies materialize into fairies.

"Come closer," Gump insisted, curling his upturned hand at the couple. "Time burns its candle at both ends."

Rose waded among the fragrant weeds and flowers into the enchanted circle with Toby right behind her. Gump bent over at his waist and muttered something to the forest denizens. Each one popped out of existence in a line and was replaced by an elf.

Honeythorn Gump rose and addressed all within earshot. "Gather close, my friends." His gaze lifted to the swirling storms above. "We have much to discuss, and not much time left to do it."

One of the short, stout pixie's sparkling blue eyes widened as Rose approached in her golden armor. He removed his hat and bowed deeply. Soon, the others followed suit and fell to one knee.

Rose looked to Gump, wearing a guise of confusion.

"You honor us with your presence," a warm feminine voice said from over Rose's shoulder. A motherly figure sauntered into the gathering and lowered her head of light blue hair. "Thank you for joining us, Champion of Light. As Gump has said, we have much to discuss."

The elf replaced his hat and righted himself. "What news, Gump?"

"It's a sad state of affairs, Brown Tom." Gump pointed back in the direction from which they had come. "Emissaries of Darkness have already overrun the far northern reaches of the Realm."

Brown Tom's head twitched. "Sad, indeed."

"What's more," Gump continued, "is that the Overlord and his winged nightmare have laid ruin to the Baron's palace, and -"

One of the winged fairies scuttled closer. "Lady Lili?"

Gump's head fell. "Taken by his dragon."

The blonde fairy tried to cover her shriek with her slender fingers, but failed. "Not Lili."

The blue-haired figure strode to the center of their gathering. Her long dark blue gown drifted among the growth. "I am Naia, Keeper of Nature." Her golden irises gazed past Rose's thoughts and burrowed deep into her spirit. "Your mother is in grave danger."

Rose nodded in silence.

"Darkness has been released into our world once more," Naia said. Her hypnotizing gaze probed Rose for truths she never knew she possessed. "I fear that the worst is yet to come."

"Aye, Your Grace," Gump said. "The foul ones rampage across our homes, scattering in every direction."

Brown Tom clapped his worn hands. "I knew no good would come o' this!"

Naia turned to face her devoted followers. "They have the Indrik, and won't stop until they control all of this existence."

The fairy with flaxen hair stepped closer. "Then, we take it back!"

Rose sensed rage in those eyes.

"It's become more complicated than that," Naia said.

Gump's face wrenched in confusion. "In what manner?"

Naia crossed her arms over her bosom. "I sense an evil coming far more powerful than Darkness."

Several of the elves and fairies flinched.

"Far more ancient," she continued, "and more destructive." Naia's mystical eyes fell on Rose again. "This force will test you." She glanced to Toby. "Test you both, for that matter."

Rose's eyes fluttered to the boy, who did the same to her, and then back up to Naia.

"Its power will consume you." The wise woman rested a hand on a shoulder of both of them. "Your destinies rest in the hands of another."

A blast of lightening and the bray of unicorns startled Rose out of the trance. A clan of the majestic white creatures rode into the sacred ring of oaks and galloped around its perimeter.

"Something's wrong!" Gump raced to Rose's side.

Three of the unicorns slid to a halt before them.

"The enemy must be near," Gump said, hopping onto its bare back. "Come! We ride tonight!"


	14. Chapter 13

Rose held onto her horse's chestnut mane with a death grip as it thundered across the open lowlands. Gump and the other sprites sped ahead of her atop their snowy unicorns across the rolling plains.

Toby pulled alongside her on his painted mare. "Where are they leading us?"

Rose shook her head. "I'm not certain." The enemy was near, but was Gump leading them toward or away from trouble?

"I think we're inviting danger in from the doorstep," Toby said over the gusting winds.

Rose followed his gaze up into the sprawling storms in their path. Undulating pillows of flashing dark consumed the horizon with premeditated swiftness. Her boots found the muscular haunches of her horse, spurring onward closer to Gump at the head of the pack.

She kept a watchful eye on the fairy through fluttering strands of black. Once Gump had turned his head and made eye contact, Rose seized her opportunity. "Where are we going?"

The boyish sprite raised a pointed finger toward the foothills under the boiling clouds in the distance. "He is close. I know it." He lowered his finger to a row of deadened and charred trees to the party's right. "The Overlord has passed through here not too long ago."

"But, Gump, I'm not -"

"We have to cut him off!" Gump's tone had taken on an authoritative color. "If he makes it back to the Great Tree with whatever he's taken, it could spell trouble for Lili – for us all."

Gump leaned his body to the right and steered the group on a course parallel to the charred trees and undergrowth. Thunder rolled as they sped off along a narrow trail on a crash course with destruction.

Then, she saw it. Massive and black. Its scaled hide shimmered in the momentary explosions of light above. "Dragon!"

Toby's face turned upward wearing a mask of sheer dread. Fending off a fox or wolf from the cottage was one thing, but this?

"Be swift, now!" Gump exclaimed, spurring his own unicorn forward.

Rose watched as the dark wyvern swung in narrowing circles over its master below. It was hard to make out at first, but as she grew nearer the dragon's master became clear. Polished armor of darkness. A horned helm hid his face, and the towering warrior sat upon a steadied blood red mare.

Gump slowed his ride to a halt a stone's throw away from the Overlord and his pet. "I've encountered these two once before."

Brown Tom trotted up next to Gump and pulled back on his reins. "Aye. A gruesome pair if ever I saw."

Sap Cap shivered in his saddle. "I don't like the looks o' this, lads."

Brown Tom scoffed. "You don't ever like the look o' anything."

"Is it me own fault that evil has to look so horrid?" Sap Cap said. He brushed a dark red curl behind a youthful ear. "I think I'll just wait back 'ere an' sound a warnin' if need be."

The black dragon let loose a fearsome shriek, jolting Sap Cap nearly off of his unicorn.

Brown Tom tugged on Sap Cap's tunic as he attempted to back away. "Ah, no ya don't."

Rose followed the winged nightmare as it steadied itself on pulses of its wings. "How are we supposed to match up to the likes of that?"

"It'll chew us up in the blink of an eye, Gump," Toby said.

The leader of the sprites conversed with the fluttering light at his shoulder. "Oona says, and I must agree, that we have no choice." He looked Rose in her eyes. "Your mother's survival may well depend on us."

The miniscule glowing being sped from Gump's side on a course with their adversaries.

Gump's boots found the haunches of his ride, and he darted off after Oona. "Onward, lads!"

Rose unsheathed her sword from her back and followed the party into the jaws of death. Gump sat upright and readied his bow. In the span of a breath, he let fly three of his bolts in the direction of the dragon.

The Overlord's mare reared back on her hind legs and brayed in challenge to her assailants. He raised his curved sword over his helm; its row of small teeth caught the instantaneous flash of lightening. His pet wailed again and dove beneath the incoming missiles. She howled – enraged that such pitiful forest dwellers would dare such a display of insolence. She was ancient, wise, and revered among her kind.

A pillar of fire scorched the field a short distance in front of Rose and Toby. She tugged hard on her reins, veering to the left of the incendiary attack. Toby's horse whinnied and bucked him from her back and into the weeds.

Gump turned his unicorn toward the opposite flank. "Circle 'round!"

Brown Tom and Sap Cap trailed him on either side as he rounded the wall of orange and steadied for another shot.

Rose brought her ride up beside Toby who was already back to his feet. "Okay?"

He nodded, rubbing an elbow. "Fine." He swung back onto the mare's back and winced. "Around this side. Hurry!"

The duo bolted around the snapping wall of flame, and pushed their animals to their limits. From the corner of her eye, Rose saw Gump's arrows pierce the growing darkness and embed themselves in the dragon's hide. The ancient creature shrieked and batted the perturbances to the ground. A swat from the Overlord's large blade brought her back into her own element. Its tip glances her shoulder guard, knocking the young lady sideways on her swung his hachet at the face shield of his opponent's helm. The Overlord parried the blow, and charged forward toward Rose. His sword came down in a shallow arc on a line for her neck.

The impact radiated from her small shield up Rose's left forearm. Behind her, the dragon cried in rage once more. One of Gump's arrows protruded from a leaking eye. Brown Tom seized the opportunity and sank his sword deep into the belly of the beast. Frightened and furious, the dark wyrm lowered her head to inspect the lethal wound. Rose spurred her horse at a full gallop, her golden blade readied. As the arch of black scales grew closer, the girl rose to a standing position atop her ride. The stench of charred material and rotten flesh puffed into face. Rose swung her weapon with all of her strength at the dragon's exposed neck. It collided with scale and sank into its sinewy hide. A line of viscous black blood showered down.

The huge monster staggered away from its assailants, swiping blindly at the emptiness. It crashed to the earth; the shockwaves knocked Toby and the Overlord apart. The boy guided his mare over to join the rest of the party. The agent of Darkness watched his longtime companion expire on the field of combat. Her shallow breaths drew weaker and then ceased altogether. The red mare reared up, her rider raised his weapon high. The Overlord's enraged cry interwove through space with the thunder and lightening. As he rode off over the undulating turf, a dark funnel of wind and fury made contact with the ground.

"Quick!" Gump said. His eyes locked onto a rocky outcropping nearby. "Take cover before it tears us to shreds."

The spinning vortex chewed a swath of destruction on a line with their hasty retreat. Once at the mouth of the overhang, the fairies dismounted and bid the unicorns farewell. Rose pounced off her horse and slapped it hard in the haunches. She ran into the shelter, watching the animal catch up to its enchanted cousins.


	15. Chapter 14

The walk down the main hall of the Great Tree went with little pomp or circumstance. Loathsome beings wandered and hobbled about their business oblivious to the powerful stone the Overlord possessed. He strode among the grand pillars of the foyer that stood watch over his master's throne room. Glowing veins of red energy pulsed through their intricate webs on the surfaces of the onyx doors. As the Overlord approached, both swung wide on groaning hinges **.**

 **"** Enter!" He couldn't tell if Darkness was angry or excited **.**

The clank of his worn boots echoed around the cavernous throne room. A lone fire to his right illuminated the numerous trinkets and trophies they had collected over the eons: crystallized skulls of men who had defied their pacts and statues of lesser gods his master had dealt with **.**

Darkness raised his muscular torso in his throne of bones and dark stones. "I sense you have tidings of success **?"**

The Overlord lowered to one knee. "Yes, master, but not without a heavy toll **."**

The god's left brow peaked. "Oh **?"**

The Overlord raised his head to gaze into the serpentine stare of Darkness. "The dragon is gone, lordship. Those wretched fairies and the girl **."**

His master elevated an open palm. "Rise, loyal servant, and come closer **."**

He did as instructed, drawing the dark crystal out in a gloved hand. It fell into Darkness's outstretched hand, twinkling in the fire's dancing light. "The Panther's Heart **."**

The Overlord nodded. "We have both Creation and Destruction, master **."**

His lordship's cackles reverberated throughout the entirety of the tree. "Excellent, general." He rose from his seat and walked to the snapping fire. "Gather the others in the Great Hall. Her time has come **."**

With that, the Overlord bowed, spun on a boot heel, and left the chamber **.**

A murmur buzzed among the goblins and ghouls who had congregated to witness this momentous occasion. The clan of sorcerers went over the items on the altar. The two crystals had to be contained under separate enchantments, so as to not annihilate one another. On the opposite side of the gaping crack in the ground, Lili paced back and forth in her prison. All bowed as their master made his way to the lip of the chasm **.**

Darkness took the Indrik in his hand and held it toward the heavens. "With this crystal, I invoke the powers of all Creation!" His authority forced its way into every crevice of the space. "Without Light, we know not that what is called Darkness. Create the seed that it might germinate and grow." He wrenched the glowing stone in his powerful grip. A steady stream of blue fluid dripped into an awaiting cauldron **.**

The dark lord took the Panther's Heart and lifted it on high. "With this dark crystal, I invoke all of the powers of Destruction! It is in darkness that we live. It is in the cloak of shadows that all things began. Feed the growing seed that she might be the vessel of your mortal essence **."**

Darkness wrenched a flow of pitch ooze into the boiling cauldron. Towering pillars of flame rose from the chasm's depths, incinerating a goblin that had grown too curious. Onlookers watched as the fires congealed into a huge figure. Its glowing eyes lowered to Lili in her cell **.**

Darkness extended his arms in its direction. "Come forth, Mother Night, and use the female as you wish **."**

The fiery essence flew into Lili, knocking her to the floor of her prison. Every muscle in her body clenched. Something dark and venomous wrapped itself around her spirit and squeezed. Soon, little remained of Lili. Another presence had assumed control **.**

She rose from the stone ground in the cell, her eyes like smoldering embers. Darkness laughed and waved a hand at the cell. Its shell of magical energy dissipated, and Lili stepped forward **.**

Darkness knelt and the congregation followed suit. He lifted his gaze to meet hers. "Welcome home, Mother."


	16. Chapter 15

The storms raged beyond their earthen shelter just outside of reach. Gump and Brown Tom scampered back from the mouth of the cave.

"A fine mess, it is," Brown Tom said in a deflated tone.

Rose crept as close to the cave's lip as the bolts outside would allow. Torrents of precipitation cascaded over the hanging rock's jagged edges. "We won't get far in that nonsense." She made her way deeper into the hole, joining Gump and the others in a small circle.

The bug-like fairy at Gump's shoulder drifted down into his cupped hands. He leaned in close and whispered the happenings and their current predicament to Oona. A jolting flash radiated from Gump's grasp, taking Rose's vision in a blast of golden light and sparkle. When her sight adjusted, Rose saw that a new companion had joined their group.

The sprite had flaxen hair that fell in gentle curls over one shoulder of her shimmering violet tunic. Rose got lost in her hypnotic blue gaze. The wisdom, power, and unusual innocence that lurked behind them intrigued Rose.

Gump smirked. "There is much about our world that you have yet to discover."

"Aye," echoed Brown Tom. "The tales told as fiction are, in fact, fact, and fact – fiction!"

Rose eased back into the cool rock wall behind her. "That man on the red mare. Who was he?"

Gump glanced to Oona and then back to Rose. "The Overlord. One of Darkness's many emissaries." His childlike gaze found hers. "The fact that we slayed his dragon and still live is a small miracle."

Oona took cautious steps around Gump and Sap Cap, and came to rest in front of Rose. She studied the gold armor wearing a look of astonishment. "You're not Jack. Yet, you wear his armor and wield his weapons."

Gump stirred deeper into the cave, examining its nooks and crannies with a keen eye. "Human mortality doesn't work that way, Oona." He crouched down around a large outcropping. "Jack is gone never to return. This is Lili's daughter, Rose."

The curious sprite crept down closer and got nose-to-nose with Rose. The scent of pollen and a fresh breeze drifted into the young lady's nostrils. "Champion of Light, indeed."

Oona sidestepped over to Toby and peered into his eyes. "And you, orphan of many sorrows." Her button nose lingered on one cheek, and then moved to the other. "You have his fire, his eyes." She placed a hand upon his heart. "There is a wild heart beating within."

Gump hopped up on a boulder and crouched down. "For many long eons, this duel has endured. One side fending off the other in their eternal struggle for dominance."

Rose turned on her haunches to face him.

"In fact," Gump said, "it wasn't long ago that we battled him last."

Sap Cap clutched his worn hat and shuttered.

"Aye," Brown Tom grumbled. "Don't be remindin' me, Gump, ole boy." He scratched the red curls at the nape of his plump neck. "Nearly didn't make it home to the missus."

Gump plopped down on the boulder's edge. "Sorry to disappoint, Tom, but our new companions need to know." His legs swung as he spoke. "Darkness had returned to the realm. A band of his misfits came forth and severed the holicorn from one of the unicorns that day."

Brown Tom bobbed his head. "A stallion, what's more."

"Indeed," Gump said. "The goblins took the horn back to their master, hurling our world into perpetual winter."

"What did he want with the unicorns?" Toby's inquisitive tone amused Gump.

"They hold the power of Light and peace," Gump said. "Darkness has an," he spun his hand in the dank space, "aversion to sunlight, let's call it."

Tom snorted. "More like it bloody disintegrates 'im!"

"Aye!" Sap Cap added.

Gump grinned. "So, it does. At any rate, Darkness had planned to sacrifice the mare to his master, Mother Night."

Rose perked up. "That's where this Jack and my mother fit in?"

Gump nodded. "Your mother tricked Darkness and set the mare free." His eyes drifted to Toby. "Jack fought Darkness and sent him plummeting into the oblivion of space and time."

Sap Cap's wide eyes surveyed the company in slow motion. "That sounds absolutely horrid."

Oona hissed at the younger sprite and wafted his words from her existence.

"That it was," Gump continued, "but at last, we had banished Darkness from our world and restored the balance that his minions had upset."

Rose's brows furrowed. "And, what of my mother?"

"Ah!" Gump hopped down from his rock, startling Sap Cap and Toby back a step. "Now, that's an interesting tale." His animal skin boots paced back and forth before the humans. "Lili and Jack were in love. They had made a promise to one another a short time after the conflict. The realm enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity. There was much love between the couple."

"Oh, aye," Brown Tom said. "I'd never seen the like." He held up a stubby finger. "Well, apart from me and me wife, o' course."

Gump laughed. "Well said." His eyes drifted back over to Toby. "In time, that love produced a child. For a time, they lived as a content family." His tone lowered. "Then, something untoward happened." His head shook back and forth. "I still can't quite put my finger on it to this day, but something changed."

"Darkness," Oona whispered.

Gump shook an open hand. "No, no. Not that, exactly."

Rose eased up onto her knees. "Then, what?"

"Something grew cold in Lili."

"Are you saying that Jack was my father?" The confusion created a whirlwind of emotions around Rose.

Gump motioned to the negative again. Rose looked to the other pixies for a response, but they, too held their tongues. Her eyes fell on Toby's look of astonishment.

"That's enough stories for now" Gump said, turning to the shadows in the throat of the cavern. Oona blinked back into her miniature form and fluttered alongside him. "Come along!" He disappeared into its depths.

"You can't be serious, Gump." Brown Tom shuffled back toward the cave's mouth. A thunderous blast startled the fairy.

Gump hopped over a trickling flow ahead. "Would you rather try your odds out there?"

Rose followed the nimble nymph lower into the dark cloak of the unknown.


	17. Chapter 16

Gump led the company farther into the throat of the cavern. Oona flittered and furled in glowing lines around his head as he went.

"I think I've heard stories about a place similar to this." Sap Cap's stare widened under Brown Tom's torch.

Tom took cautious steps across the thin ribbon of water that they had followed thus far. "It does bear a strikin' resemblance to some yarns I've heard spun before, aye."

Rose and Toby had to duck under the entry that Gump rushed into a few paces ahead. Toby's torchlight drooped and bent around to their left into a larger corridor of earth and stone.

Toby leaned to his left around another snaking root in the ceiling. "What is this place, Gump?"

"I can't say for certain," he said, "but matches some of the descriptions of tales told about our ancestors long since passed."

Toby stretched to his full height. "What was it for?"

Gump stopped and whispered with Oona. Following his nod, the tiny sprite fluttered ahead. "At on time, our ancestors used a set a catacombs to flee from Darkness and Mother Night. The last time she made her was into our world, she nearly did us in."

Brown Tom kicked a stray lizard off his boot. "Transformed into a towerin' inferno, she did. Many lost their lives that day."

A vice clamped down on Rose's gut. "You expect me to stand against that?"

"If she returns," Gump said, "you must."

His childlike bluntness perturbed the warrior.

A shimmering line of light let them know that Oona had returned.

"What news?" Gump trotted up to meet her. After a few nods and some whispers, he turned to Rose and the others. "This way! She's found it."

The others blew past a stoic Rose. The pitch dark swallowed their lapping torches. "Found what? Wait, Gump."

When she had caught up to the group, Rose found them all awestruck. Each one fixed their eyes on the cavern wall before them. "What is it?"

Gump's hand caressed a faded painting. "Remnants," his head bent to one side, "of an older time. A bleaker time."

She crept closer and studied the image under Toby's torchlight. A painting of a person laying on his back adorned the wall. Above this, the artist had depicted a white object and a black one.

Gump followed her stare to them. "The Indrik, crystal of all Creation." He traced the black object with an index finger. "And, its counterpart, the source of all Destruction, the Panther's Heart."

Brown Tom wandered over to the adjacent wall. "This be the place, all right." He and Sap Cap shared in a shiver.

As Rose neared them, she understood their fear. Upon this wall, their ancestors has painted a dragon that took up its entirety. Surrounding this behemoth, a mass of fallen and running figures engulfed fire. She turned to Gump. "Mother Night?"

The sprite nodded.

She felt a lump well in her throat. "I thought as much."


	18. Chapter 17

Lili sensed Mother Night moving her left hand in slow swirls. She saw what Mother saw through her eyes. Yet, she could do nothing to regain control of her physical being. His dark spell wove too strong a hold over Lili's mortal soul. Alas, this left Lili with nothing to do, but observe in her swamp of helplessness.

Mother Night's fingertips floated just above the pool of water in her scrying bowl. Ethereal tendrils of fog converged and intertwined within its glassy depths.

Darkness clopped to her side from the counsel of his high priests. His inquisitive eyes fell to the whispers and screams coming from the water. "What is it you seek, Mother?"

She wafted a tormented shout out of existence. "Their champion."

Darkness took a full goblet from his grand table, and proceeded over next to his fire. "Long since passed." He took a long draw from the cup. "I can assure you."

A pair of stone demon cherubs rose from their marble perches, and joined Mother Night at the scrying pool. Both tilted their horned headsin for a closer look.

Another gulp washed past his fangs, rejuvenating Darkness's will. "His body rots under hill deep in the forest. He is of no concern to us."

Mother bent her human head closer to the swirling mists. A glint of gold scales caught her ancient and wise eyes. "The Champion has returned."

Astonishment would have been an understatement. His maw hung agape. "By what means?"

Mother's gaze never faltered from her pool. "His offspring still lives. So longs as this is so, we can perish."

Darkness flung his jewel-encrusted goblet into the dancing flames. Its contents matched the hiss that radiated from his throat. He strode to the pool, and looked for himself. A lone little cottage sat nestled among a ring of towering trees. Somewhere through the pool and behind those stone walls, an old woman hummed a lullaby.

Mother Night grabbed the image in her hand and crushed it. "Dispatch your emissaries. Ensure it's completely destroyed!"

Darkness bowed. "As you wish."


	19. Chapter 18

They charged their hellish beasts hard through the forest's underbrush. Ghoul, goblin, and demon alike howled and cried for destruction. Some bore a lone horn upon their grimy scalps, the sole survivor of some prior conflict. Others scowled with their milky good eye and spat venom into homes and burrows of the innocent. Armor clanged. The partial moonlight danced upon the clubs and swords. Their torches burned down the final remnants of any hope of reversing course.

At the helm of this horde rode the Overlord. His Nightmare puffed acidic steam from her skeletal snout. One after another, the trees hissed by him in blurs. His master's storms had receded for the moment, allowing the warm glow in the cottage windows to guide him like a moth to a flame. "Find the boy!"

The horde fanned out and encircled the stone house. Their leader galloped to the front door, and bashed it in under a spike-studded boot. The Overlord swept his broadsword across a wall, toppling furniture and trinkets. The narrow archway leading into her sitting room fell to his menacing girth in a shower of clay and splinters.

"Where is the boy?"

The old woman paid him no mind, and went about humming her tune.

His blade swung down, shattering a decorative bowl. "I won't repeat myself, hag."

Nell glanced up from the garment she was knitting and scowled at him. "Gone." A giggle escaped her sagging jowls. "You've come too late, dark one."

"Where? Tell me, hag."

Another chortle.

The Overlord plunged his weapon deep into her billowing blouse. Soon, blood soaked it through and her fading form fell to one side. He spun his horse around and stormed back out from whence he came.

Outside, his followers ransacked every barrel, container, and shed within reach. One of the goblins hobbled up to the Overlord. His long black ponytail swung in time with his broken strides.

"The human is nowhere to be found."

The Overlord steadied his horse, and pointed his sword at the cottage. "Burn it to the ground." His heels found the mate's haunches. She trotted over to a pair of ghouls on great hairless wolves. "Find their trail, and follow it!"


	20. Chapter 19

"When we find her," Rose said, striding through the shin-high weeds, "we'll take her back home."

The others in the company lumbered through the meadow a few paces behind. The warmth of the sun was a welcome change on their journey out of the long caverns.

Gump swatted at the tops of the grass that swayed before his eyes. "And, if she's not capable of salvation?" He batted at another tall piece of grass. "What then?"

Brown Tom wandered near Sap Cap, pointing out the various types of flora. "She may have to be destroyed, lass."

Rose stopped in her tracks, her bottom jaw wagging. "Watch your tongue, sprite!"

Tom shrugged. "Almost happened once, as I recall. Nothin' sayin' that it might have to be so again."

Oona walked next to Gump in her more palatable and larger form. "In either case, our road leads to the Great Tree."

Sap Cap squashed the specimen of violet that he'd found under his white knuckles. "It's certain death in there, Gump." The younger fairy's features went pallid. "Why, if we -"

Gump's hand flew up. "Silence!" He tilted an ear toward the forest at the field's edge. He glanced to Rose. "Ya hear that?"

The warrior's head nodded.

A line of deer broke out of the forest's underbrush and bounded across the meadow. A group of other forest creatures, unicorn, bear, and foxes alike, followed close behind.

Sap Cap's hands flew up. "See there?"

Brown Tom kicked a clod of dirt. "Trouble's afoot."

Gump started off across the meadow at a dead sprint. "Come! Time is of the essence."

Rose and the others hurried to meet him as fast as their weary limbs would allow. Gump stood at the side of one unicorn, petting his neck when Rose arrived. She watched as he conversed with the creature in its native tongue.

"What are they goin' on about, you recon?" Sap Cap whispered.

Brown Tom shushed his inquisitions in a hurry. "Not now, boy."

The unicorn whinnied and lowered his head to the grass.

Gump took short uncertain steps back to rejoin them. "Very bad news, I'm afraid."

Brown Tom hung on his every word. "Well, what is it, Gump?"

Their leader walked to Toby and rubbed his arm. "Nell. The cottage. They destroyed all of it."

Rose watched the color drain from his face. His freckled cheeks trembled. The corners of his eyes welled. "My home. My mom."

"She was a wonderful person," Gump rested his hands on his belt. "She cared for all of us when few would."

Brown Tom removed his worn hat, and held it over his heart. "A fine lady as ever I've met."

A wave of sorrow welled up in Rose. "She meant a lot to many."

"Who, Gump?" Toby's white knuckles choked the handle of his weapon.

"The Overlord and his horde." Gump's expression went cold. "Some of Darkness's most lethal warriors."

The boy's watery gaze glazed over. "When I find him -"

Gump's head snapped back in the direction of the trees. "No need." He jogged closer to the forest and scanned the air. "They ride this direction."

"Then we fight," Toby said.

Oona stepped in front of both Gump and Toby. "They outnumber us ten to one."

Gump's eyes bounced from her to the animal herd and back again. "Not quite." He ran to the unicorns. "Quick! I have a plan."


	21. Chapter 20

The Overlord pushed his horse hard as they made their way back out of the thicket. Copper bled from the leaves of both maple and elm. Little stood in the way of his master's dominion over everything, save one tiny enclave. They would be dealt with soon enough.

"Onward!" he wagged his sword at his nightmare's side.

His instructions upon leaving the blazing cottage had been clear and concise: find anyone or anything in gold armor and crush the life from it. His victorious horde flanked the Overlord on both sides, ripping and tearing living nature as they barreled out.

 _Soon, master. Your bidding shall be done, and all will bow before the glorious wrath of Destruction!_

He eyed a chipmunk as it scurried along a tree branch at saddle's height. With a barbaric swat of his blade, the Overlord reduced the small game to a pink cloud of fur and gore. The Overlord howled and turned his ride toward the forest's edge ahead. Grunts and wails echoed at his back. Tassels and knots of hair whipped in the fury of their approach on the open fields. The sun rose, but remained concealed by the boiling wrath of his master's unnatural storms.

They trampled the last of the glade's brush under hoof, and thundered across the fields. The Overlord's mare huffed and snorted under the relentless strain her reins.

 _Wherever you are, I'll find you. By my blade, you and your line will cease to exist!_

Down into a shallow vale, they rode. A small flock of sparrows scattered as the dark invaders made a mess of their meals. As he rounded the next hill, the Overlord and his front line were met by a charging wedge of unicorns. The gallant creatures split the enemy's advance, giving way for the much larger bear that trailed them.

The Overlord's mare reared up on her hind legs. "Scatter and circle them from the sides!"

Several of his minions got the order in time, pulling hard on their animal's reins. Many of their cohorts reacted too late. An onslaught ensued. One vicious swat after another, the towering bears toppled goblins from their saddles. A boyish pixie charged the hill, slinging bolts from his bow in raining death. Several of his adversaries fell where they stood on the battlefield, shafts protruding at obtuse angles from their necks.

He waved the others behind him onward. "Go, now! Fight while we still hold surprise."

There! Golden armor and shield. Their female Champion of Light drew her sword and stormed the knoll. The Overlord bucked his mare forward. "Come, child!" He slayed the winds with his weapon. "One last fight before you meet your fate."

Steel fell upon steel. The force of her acceleration spun the Overlord in his black saddle. Another swat blindsided him, toppling the agent of Darkness to the turf.

"Your soul will boil."

The pin-sized pixie whirled his war hammer. "Ye'll have to take a spot in line." The red-haired runt snarled. "I've got a lengthy list, lad."

As the fairy charged his position, one of the Overlord's ghouls rushed from the side and took the man to the ground. The golden one shouted behind him. The sharp edge of her blade found purchase in the back plate of his armor. Enraged, he spun to face his challenger, but her sword remained lodged. The Overlord backhanded the girl, spinning her through the air.

"The enemy's really scraping the barrel, if this is the best they have left." He gripped the golden hilt, and dislodged the nuisance. He held both weapons and marched on his stunned prey. "Time to crush you under foot like the insect you are!"

Tendrils of smoke wound from his hand. He flung the golden sword to the dirt and howled. Searing agony oozed up his left arm. A minute glowing insect buzzed inside his visor and stung him just below the eye.

"You little…"

It dodged his raking hand and zipped around his helmet in oblong orbits. The Overlord twisted to his left. A glint of yellow fluttered in his line of sight. He lifted his hand to crush the bug, but instead found a golden blade speeding toward his neck.

Strange sensations. An inhalation followed by a disconnect. The world listed in one direction, and then the darkened skies turned end over end. The Overlord's final vision was that of his decapitated body falling limp. Then, his world went dark.


	22. Chapter 21

Rose led the company forward toward the remaining bastion for darkness and night. As a pale gibbous moon poked through the rapidly boiling storms, she and Toby spurred their horses across low-lying marshlands and boggy underbrush.

Gump's unicorn trotted up alongside Rose. "Little else stands between us and them."

Her tempered gaze studied the skies. "We can beat him with light."

"Aye!" Gump guided his ride to the point where land and the swamp surrounding the Great Tree converged. "It appears that endeavor is hopeless."

Brown Tom halted on the other side of Toby and Rose. "I promised meself I'd never have to see that accursed place again."

Sap Cap leaned on his pommel. "Promises made. Promises broken."

Tom swiped a meaty hand at his instigator. "Why, I oughta -"

"Enough you two." Gump eyed the evil structure. "We'll need our wits and our weapons if we're to survive the both of them on their ground."

Toby steadied his nervous animal. "How do we make our way inside, Gump?"

The elf pointed to the murky black water. "I know of only one way in, and it won't be easy."

Rose swung off her horse and walked to the water's edge. Its slithering denizens undulated in and out of the swamp. "No time like the present."

Oona's tiny form swarmed the girl's head.

"Hey! Cut it out."

Gump dismounted and strode to the center of their gathering. "Before we go, there's something you should know." The pixie's gaze met that of Toby. "She's your mother as well."

At first, his forehead wrinkled as he tried to unravel Gump's meaning. Then, Toby's eyes lit up.

Rose shooed the miniature sprite and approached Gump. "What do you mean?"

Toby hopped off and walked to Rose's side. "Then, the baron?"

Gump shook his head. "No. She and Jack, boy. The baron would have nothing to do with the offspring of another. So, Lili left you in Nell's care." His dejected gaze dropped. "Dear Jack never lived to know."

Rose couldn't hold back the emotional onslaught. "Y-You're my brother?"

Toby's welling eyes said it all. They clasped one another in a powerful embrace.

Sap Cap sighed. "Ah. That's the stuff o' dreams there."

"Maybe so." Brown Tom joined them near the water. "We've got a mum that needs savin' and a fallen brother to avenge."

Gump readied his bow. "Well said, Tom." He inched to a large boulder protruding from the water's clutches. "The hourglass still pours Come!"

The others followed Gump's lead across the slippery stones in the bog. The surface of the murky water bulged in several places as if giving birth. Rose watched as one grew to the size of her head and then popped in a cloud of foul fumes.

She buried her nose in a sleeve. "The stench!"

Sap Cap's lips curled as he advanced in front of her. "That be the rot o' the damned, if ever I smelt it."

"Or worse." Gump leaped onto a large gnarled root on the far bank of the bog. "Mind your step." His youthful gaze studied the black water. "Lest ye want to become supper for whatever lurks beneath."

Rose readied herself for the final jump and sprang from the stone. As her foot landed, its ball glided forward over a gnarled root.

Her torso teetered backward. "Whoa!"

"Steady, lass." Brown Tom reached for one of the girl's hands, but his aide came an instant too late.

Rose crashed into the wretched bog with a loud splash. She heard her brother's shouts as she sank beneath the waves. After swimming through a submerged tree limb, Rose broke the bog's glassy surface.

"Thank the heavens." Toby's hand took her by the forearm and tugged her to safety.

Her soggy tail of black hair slapped against her golden armor. "Mind that first step."

Oona's soft glow cut through the growing dark as she swirled over Gump's head. He whispered something to her in their native language and turned to the rest of the party. "Oona brings news."

Brown Tom readied his weapon. "What of it?"

Gump crept to a slender tall opening between the network of roots and vines. "This passage parallels the aqueduct system." His gaze surveyed the others for any emotional responses. "We'll be able to bypass the kitchen and holding cells, but it'll be a long treacherous climb to get up to the level of the throne room."

Tom shivered at the prospect of going back into the Great Tree. "What is it about this place that keeps us comin' back to it?"

Gump shouldered his bow. "Their power is strongest next to its source."

Sap Cap sat a palm on the pommel of his short sword. "Why not just draw them out into an open meadow somewhere?"

"Because, we need the Indrik to defeat Mother Night," Gump insisted, "and that crystal is currently -" he jabbed a finger at the top of the tree's girth – "up there."

Old Tom shook his shaggy red mane. "I dunno, Gump. If we -"

The girl's shriek stunned everyone where they stood. A glistening gray tentacle wrapped itself around her left ankle and squeezed.

Toby drew his axe. "Take your boot off!"

Rose writhed and pried at her shoe. "I can't. It's gripping me too tight." She unsheathed her sword and swung it down. The blade lacerated the creature's extremity before lodging into the ancient bark. The tentacle squirmed up her calf as she readied for another swat. "That might hahh!"

It yanked Rose's leg out from under her, dragging her toward the murky bog.

Giving chase, Toby latched onto her free hand and dug a heel into the side of the trunk.

Brown Tom scuttled past him on the side nearest the bog. "Good job, lad!" He raised his sword over the gray mass. "Hold her steady." He closed one eye and wagged his weapon over her leg.

Sap Cap reached out for Tom's jacket. "No! Yer too far up."

"Go back into the hell hole from -" Tom brought his blade down through the coiled flesh – "whence ye came!"

The bog waters bubbled with the painful gurgles of the monster. Plumes of pungent water jetted from its mouth near the center of the water and rained down on the group.

"Hurry!" Gump's arm motioned them toward the tall opening in the tree's hide. "Before it decides to grab us all."

One by one, the party disappeared into the musty shadows uncertain of what versions of Hell awaited.


	23. Chapter 22

Flickering hues of orange made the shadows waltz to their will along the high walls of the Great Tree's inner sanctum. Someplace deeper in the temple's center, massive infernos burned. Gump led the others in a single file line down a tall and tight corridor. His bent form passed in and out of the patches of firelight. A long stream of water gurgled past Rose on her right as she followed the group. Her eyes followed the towering silver ribbons from the stream high up to their sources in the wall overhead. The occasional bone or skull trickled out of the stone holes and hit the stream with a splash.

From the fiery chambers beyond their wall, immense metallic structures groaned, pouring out their contents. Tortured souls wailed and begged their tormentors for relief, but none came. One by one, Rose crept beneath each arched window into the kitchen and holding area. At the next of these openings, her curiosity got the better of her, and the warrior inched her gaze up over the window's lip. A massive fire blazed in the hollow hearth at the back of the room. A muscular creature stood at a long table. Its four powerful arms worked in symphonic harmony as it dismembered its prize. One arm picked up a meat cleaver and hacked at the dying pixie on the tabletop. Another grabbed a large bowl while its companion emptied the entrails into it.

 _My god!_ Rose lowered herself back below the window's edge.

Sap Cap turned his hunched form around to face her. "Warmonger," he whispered. "Our parents told us nightmarish stories about him to keep us in line as children."

A sharp hiss from Gump at the front quieted the pair. His index finger singled out everyone in the group, then jabbed at a rope ladder on the wall at the end of the corridor.

Rose's eyes traced the ladder up the inner wall of the structure until it disappeared into a point high overhead. From its appearance among the dancing shadows, the ladder offered little beyond one false move to a certain death. _Mother's up there someplace. Hold tight, and don't look down_.

Oona flew to the lower rungs, swirled in disarray, and sped back to hover at Gump's right shoulder. He nodded as he conversed with his long-time companion. Satisfied with her observations, he summoned the others to join him at the base of the ladder.

"Oona says," his voice was a whisper, "that this route takes us up to the throne room foyer." Oona fluttered beside his ear. "Yes, yes. And, from there, we should be a mere stone's throw away from the chasm."

Most of the groups' brows furrowed.

"The direct gate into Hell."

Their masks of confusion melted. Eyes grew wider, and blood fled from their features. Back over their shoulders, more tortured screams bounced off cold walls.

"Right then," Gump said. "No time like the present."

He shouldered his bow and leaped up the first few rungs of the ladder in a blur. Brown Tom muttered something about being cold and far from home as he heaved his girth upon the first of the steps. One after another, they made their way up the length of the ladder. The wooden slats felt ancient and smooth beneath Rose's boots. Despite their age, they gave no indication of giving way anytime soon.

Rose had recited her bedtime prayers at least ten times when their procession paused. The ladder still disappeared into a pinpoint far overhead.

Sap Cap wrapped one of his lanky arms around a pair of steps and wiped the perspiration from his forehead with the other. "When does it end, Gump?"

The leader of the pixies surveyed the apparent endless hollow of the tree's girth. "When we've reached the end of the rope, I suspect."

Brown Tom grumbled. "I'm nearly at the end o' mine as it is, lads."

Tom inched up a few more steps behind him in the line. "Not soon enough for these old bones."

"Aye!" Sap Cap said. "What I wouldn't give for a -" His foot slipped, leaving him dangling in space by a step.

The group shrieked as the ladder swayed. Something shiny ricocheted off the trunk with a metallic clang and faded into the void.

Sap Cap's chest deflated. "There went me best field knife."

Tom swatted the youngster on the noggin. "If ya don't watch yer step, you'll soon get the chance to go lookin' fer it, ya louse."

A short hiss from Gump quieted the duo. Everyone followed his gaze as Oona darted higher into the swirling shadows far above. Moments passed like an eternity. Rose's shoulders burned and stiffened under the relentless pressure.

"It's been too long," Brown Tom insisted.

Sap Cap piped in, "Aye. Where'd she go?"

A distant howl reverberated down to their perches.

Brown Tom grumbled. "Oh, ho! That did it."

A flickering bright speck sped back toward them along the tree's girth. Another enraged wail from whatever manner of dark creature the fairy had awakened sped in pursuit.

"Now!" Gump ascended the ladder like a wildcat.

In the span of a few of Rose's breaths, he had climbed into a hollowed out knot in the Great Tree's hide.

"Move it!" Gump's lean hand encouraged them onward amid a fresh set of screams from the creature.

One by one, the party ducked away inside the secluded perch. As Toby rolled off the top step and into the hole, a powerful gust blew Rose free from her hold on the top step. The row of the wooden steps zipped past her as she sped toward death. Her right arm extended into the line of the ladder, shattering the first three steps into a cloud of wood and dust. Her petite fingers held fast to the fourth and stretched her shoulder nearly out of its socket. The winged nightmare let loose a wet gargled battle cry nearby in the darkness below.

"Hurry, child!" Gump readied a bolt in his weapon at took aim for her head.

A wrenching tingle washed over Rose's torso. "Gump!"

The wooden bolt raced toward her right ear, hissed past it, and sank into the monster's eye with a wet **_thunk_**. The wyvern's muzzle brushed Rose's outside shoulder as it scraped against the trunk's inner wall.

Gump's free hand spun large circles. "Now!"

She fought through the searing pain in her shoulder and ascended the ladder. Rose clung to one side of the rope in the section of shattered steps. Her assailant shrieked far overhead and pulsed its leathery black wings.

Brown Tom lowered a hand over the lip of their perch. "Come, lass! 'Fore he gets a notion to swallow ye whole."

Gump sprang to his full height next to Tom and readied another arrow. Rose followed the pixie's eyes as the missile of darkness clasped its wings close to its sides and dove in for the kill.

"For the love of everything!" Toby exclaimed, his gaze bouncing between his sister and the creature.

Rose dug deep for any extra resolve. Her shoulder was ablaze in inflammation. Her forearms had gone numb from the stress of the fall and her climb. Through the watery film over her eyes, a distorted dark mass grew in size.

Gump's arrow sank with its target until the wyvern dropped to within a stone's throw of their haven.

Rose held fast to the next step; her muscles went rigid. "Gump!"

The pixie let his bolt fly, and it found its mark in the socket of the dragon's right eye. It thrashed its thick neck and head about, trying to shake the misery free.

One of its wings slapped Rose as it crashed into the distant wall and spiraled toward the floor. She finished her ascent and took Brown Tom by his hand.

"There we are," he said, heaving her over the edge. "Thought we'd lost there."

Rose collapsed at their boots and groaned. "Me, too."

A thunderous rumble radiated from far below and shook the space in their empty column.


	24. Chapter 23

The rest of the climb into the antechamber went with much clamor and commotion from far below. Goblins hissed orders to their underlings in their secret tongue. Thundering footsteps climbed higher and higher within the compound. Rose followed Gump as he wove between huge marble pillars in the antechamber.

He crouched behind one in the shadows along the far wall. "Beyond those," his head nodded toward the shimmering black crystalline doors ahead, "is _his_ throne room."

"Mother." The girl's eyes perked up.

Gump nodded. "Both your mother and that of Darkness, Mother Night, roam someplace inside." He shifted his weight onto the other foot. "Once inside, there's no turning back, child. Mother and son must both be destroyed."

The color drained from Rose's youthful features.

The fairy's resolve hardened. "If you can't," he surveyed the others, "one of us will."

A loud clang rang out several floors below.

Gump readied an arrow on the notch of his bow and sprang in a jog. "Come! Our enemies wait for no one."

A large knot welled in Rose's throat as she unsheathed her sword. _From a distance, the thought of killing her felt safe, but now_. She skidded to a stop at the menacing doors and helped Toby pry one ajar. Various masks of pain and tortured souls swam about on the door's surface. _Will I be able to do it when I look her in the eye?_

A sharp bird call dragged Rose from her daydreams. Dozens of paces ahead, Sap Cap urged her to rejoin the company. The dim flicker of crimson candles illuminated the regal throne room of Darkness.

"Fan out," Gump hissed. "Find the Indrik if it's here."

Rose scurried to the closest of the banquet tables and searched among the crystalline skulls and jewel-encrusted goblets.

The huge empty space amplified Sap Cap's inquiry. "What's it look like, Gump?"

Another swat from Brown Tom's cap. "Keep it down, ya blunderin' buffoon."

Gump trotted to their table on the opposite side. "Pure white, it is." He picked up a skull and inspected its hollow sockets. "Thin as a spire and sparkles like a thousand suns."

Nothing fitting that description stuck out in Rose's corner of the room. She slid her weapon into its sheath and strode to a smaller table behind the tall black throne.

Toby joined her. "Anything yet?"

She shook her head.

"Same here."

Sap Cap groaned from his end of the chamber. "It's no use. The blasted thing's not in here."

Brown Tom's bulbous noggin spun toward the clamoring crowd a few floors beneath the throne room. "Company's comin', boys." He unsheathed a short sword and ambled toward the tall arched door at the chamber's back corner. "We'd best skidaddle!"

"Right!" Gump unshouldered his bow and bent a long ear closer to the wall. "Ole Tom speaks true." He trailed behind the others into the hallway. "Where he is, the crystal is as well."

"Where are we gonna find him?"

Brown Tom stopped at the top of a spiral staircase and spoke between labored breaths. W-Where there's hellfire, we'll fing him."

Rose and Toby gave him a sideward glance.

Gump clarified. "Down at the Chasm. He means to unleash all of Hell onto our world.


	25. Chapter 24

The party descended the cramped staircase as they wound down into the secret lair of the Chasm. The acrid sulfurous stench of the nightmarish threshold.

Darkness' inhuman voice echoed from a cavernous opening a short distance ahead of Rose. His words drove a chilly spike through her soul.

"Siblings of the Night!" Somewhere, an inferno intensified. "The age of vengeance has come. Arise from the flames of purgatory!"

She crept along the wall at the front of the procession. As her face slid to the archway's edge, the macabre ceremony came into view. Darkness stood proud beside her mother, Lili. Rose lowered her moistened stare to Gump.

"She is Lili no longer." The fae's mute guise crumpled a little. "Your mother and our beloved friend has long since passed."

The girl stole another glance at Lili. "What if you're wrong? What if she's still inside somewhere?"

Gump's eyes fell. "Hard to say."

"If it be a spell," Tom said, "it's a powerful charm to be sure."

A rowdy ruckus stormed overhead, puling Gump's ear away from the Chasm. "We've outfoxed the horde, but we haven't much time 'til his army descends upon us."

Toby snuck a look into the large open-air room. "We find the Indrik, and we can send them back."

Sap Cap's head tilted. "Or at least have a fightin' chance."

Gump's gaze lit up. "There!"

One by one, heads inched around the corner.

"On the mystic's table." Gump's finger singled them out as he formulated his plan. "Rose, Toby. Get the Indrik. Brown Tom and Sap Cap, guard our escape. Oona and I'll create a diversion." His thin finger tapped Toby's chest. "Your father's blood courses in your veins. It's up to you to send Darkness back through that hole in the ground."

The boy's eyes widened.

"Just get the Indrik," Gump said, readying his bow. "We'll take on the rest as it happens." His keen stare passed over everyone. "Ready?"

The rest of the company looked to Rose, having confirmed with a nod.

She unsheathed her sword and released a sharp breath. "Ready."

Gump snuck to the archway and notched another feathered missile. "Move!"

The party split with Gump and Oona heading in one direction toward the Chasm, and Rose and Toby creeping in the cool shadows of robust pillars in the direction of the crystal.

Darkness continued his incantations unaware of their invasion of his lair. "Children of Mother Night. Slaves to Darkness, arise in this realm. I command you."

Rose inched around the polish onyx girth of a pillar. Lili stood next to a gigantic creature that resembled a man from the waist up, but its opposite end were the hooved extremities of a bull. Huge horns, black as pitch, protruded from either side of his bald head. A long black cloak fluttered in the wrath that pulsed from the slit in the earth.

The Indrik twinkled in the light of a candelabra. A pair of sorcerers paced back and forth behind the table wringing their hands in anticipation. She tapped her brother on his shoulder and snuck to the last pillar in their line. Once there, she glanced back at Gump and Oona on the far side of the room. The sprite drew back two bolts in his string and bobbed his head.

"Cover me." She pounced toward the long table as Gump's arrows found their marks, toppling both dark agents in the span of a breath.

Lili spun in her sparkling black gown and hissed. Her eyes glowed in a dark purple hue similar to a twilight.

Darkness snapped his head in the same direction on his muscular neck. His eyes narrowed at the shimmer of the familiar golden scalemail. "You!"

Rose's nimble hand clasped the Indrik and held tight.

Darkness laughed as Toby stumbled out next to his sister. "You're even worse than the last." Another hearty laugh that exposed his long venomous fangs. "Two swaddled babes in the company of fools."

Rose jabbed the cold crystal toward the advancing prince of the damned. "Gump? What do we do?"

The fairy dropped another goblin on his way to her. "Clear your thoughts, and listen!"

She did as instructed, turning her mind to nothingness. A vision, faint at first, emerged in Rose's mind's eye. Shimmering white. A unicorn galloped through a swirling wall of storm clouds. Its bright blue eyes held both ancient wisdom and hardened resolve. This creature had something different that she couldn't identify.

A thunderous clap snapped her from the trance. Her mother stood across from Rose, wielding the Indrik's antithesis, the Panther's Heart. The dark crystal pulsed as the heavens peeled above her.

"Whoa!" A powerful gust pushed Rose to her knees.

The winged pegasus galloped on hooves of gold against its eternal foe. The enormous black cat leaped from its side of the skies and swatted at the winged menace. The pegasus reared up on her haunches, feinting the assault.

Mother Night swung her crystal in a wide arc. "Ignorant mortal!" Her mother's sweet tone had gone, and that of a raspy hag took its place. "Once I've crushed your Phaedrus," the panther lashed out, striking the horse's neck, "I'll rip your soul apart."

Rose manipulated the Indrik, and her Phaedrus responded. The pegasus charged the cat with her horn, blinding it on one side. Bolts of lightening forked across the sky as the cat howled.

To her right, Toby dodged a blow from Darkness. The monster's great sword raked a wave of sparks from the pillar at the boy's flank. Her sibling swung his hatchet down, meeting the guard of the demon's sword in another eruption of light.

A jolt pulsed through the girl's body as the panther raked the front haunches of her Phaedrus. The pegasus staggered to one side and whinnied. Mother Night laughed as she twisted the black stone in a wrenching motion. Rose fell to her knees under the enormous syrain of the destructive crystal. An inferno of delirium blazed behind her mother's eyes. The crooked fingers of Lili's free hand pulsed in a purple glow. In moments, Mother Night's orb of pain impacted Rose's chest armor, contorting her in its torturous wrath.

From the corner of her eye, Rose caught a glimpse of Oona and Gump. The tandem scrambled from another wave of ghouls and their filthy weapons.

"Mother," Rose managed amid muscle spasms. "Please."

Gump leaped over a table, felling three more hell spawns on his arrows. "Everything, child! Summon every bit you can!"

She stilled the sea of needles crawling under her skin and connected with the astral creature. When the energy within threatened to break the levee, Rose thrust the Indrik in the direction of her mother. The pegasus launched back on her hind quarters again. A brilliant fork of light shot across the heavens, impaling the panther and Darkness upon its tines. Toby seized the opportunity and sank his blade deep into the convulsing head of the dark lord.

"Wretched bitch!" Mother Night charged the dazed teen. "Whore!"

In an instant, the blade of Rose's sword had run through the heart of the deity. Her mother's blackened eyes dissolved into the gentle ones she'd always known.

"M-Mom?"

Lili collapsed to her knees. Her trembling hands plucked at the gilded steel that was draining the life from her. "What's h-happening?"

Rose's quivering hand withdrew from the hilt.

"Don't!" Gump ran past the fleeing remnants of the horde. "Don't fall for her tricks."

Her hand lingered a moment more.

Her mother's tragic eyes met Rose's. "Forgive me."

Lili collapsed to the floor, a small gold ring on a chain tumbled out next to her cheek. Oona knelt beside her fallen friend and caressed the trinket.


	26. Chapter 25: Tomb and Tavern

The lid to her sarcophagus lay ajar within the subterranean chamber. Lili had been dressed in her favorite white summer gown. A bouquet of fresh flowers rested between her peaceful hands.

Rose wiped back another wave of liquid pain and slipped the gold ring over her mother's left ring finger. "It was his." Rose glanced to Jack's tomb beside her mom.

Brown Tom patted the small of her back. "We know, love." A sniffle escaped him. "We know."

Gump leaned into the stone case and pecked her on the nose. "She's where she's always longed to be."

Rose kissed her mom goodbye, sweeping a stray strand from her cool skin. With a final, "I love you", she helped the others slide the lid over Lili's mortal shell for good.

Their journey from the tomb back into the village was a long and somber procession. The dark storm front had long since dissipated, giving way to the rejuvenation of many things. She trailed behind the others along the dirt streets until Toby halted the group in front of an inn. Its wooden sign swung on iron rings. And embossed winged unicorn adorned the upper right corner while a black cat pounce from its lower left.

"Anyone care to wet the whistle in the Pegasus and Panther?" He lifted a shoulder.

Rose grinned. "Sounds perfect."

Closing track: xb8dXfFgrWI (Youtube)

[UPCOMING WORKS IN: LABYRINTH, NEVERENDING STORY, AND HARRY POTTER.]

Thank you for coming along.


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